It seems that feature phones are now going the way of the pager, if it has not already yet. More and more people now think of mobile phones as more than just a device to use for calling or texting. The market is becoming saturated with smartphones that allow users to do more than just calling or text messaging. Its versatility has made it popular and is pushing the feature phones out of business, at least in the US.

According to a recent study by market research firm Nielsen, around 70 percent of 13 to 17-year old teens in the US market now own smartphones. For young adults ages 18 to 24 years old, the number is number is even higher at 79 percent of the market. In the past year, only 58 percent of American teens owned a smartphone while 36 percent did the year before that.

Among smartphone users’ OS of choice, Android still remains on top with 52 percent of US mobile subscribers between July and September. Around 41 percent preferred iOS, which improved one percentage point for the 3rd quarter. The Windows Phone still has to make a dent in the market with only a 2 percent market share.

But when it comes to devices, iPhones are the popular choice, getting a 41 percent market share. The next is Samsung at 26 percent while the rest are shared between other brand makers such as HTC, LG, Nokia and Blackberry, among others. By and large, what these numbers indicate is that with the younger generation of the market segment prefer using smartphones, the use of feature phones may be on the way out.

But considering the stiff competition between mobile phone makers, some may want to take more focus on this dwindling market segment. Either they try to provide hardline feature phone users with models to use or they convince them to upgrade into smartphones in a way that they can relate to. But eventually, the market may someday be dominated by smartphones and with feature phones becoming a rare commodity in the near future.Gadgets – GuideTo.Com